1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a password management device which manages a password read by an information processing device having a reader/writer, a password management method, and a password management program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A log-on system to log on a PC (Personal Computer) or an application by use of a contactless IC (Integrated Circuit) card has been put to practical use. Similarly, this kind of log-on system can be utilized by use of a mobile phone having a contactless IC card.
The log-on system using a contactless IC card has a function to generate automatically a random value, thereby to issue a password for user authentication, and to change an old password to a new password. To realize this function, a password stored in the contactless IC card has to be readable/writable by software on a PC.
As prior art relevant to the present invention, there has been a technique that a mobile phone transmits a pre-stored password at the start of communication and stores a new password at the end of communication (for example, see Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-308850.
However, when attributes of respective items in a contactless IC card chip are written in a mobile phone having a built-in contactless IC card, writing lockable with a key needs to be carried out by a PC to ensure security. Unlike a general reader/writer, a reader/writer to realize this kind of writing requires a special reader/writer having the function to perform writing lockable with a key. Such a special reader/writer is used to issue a contactless IC card and therefore very expensive.